Damage Control

Ariella Schiller

The pros all say: Get in front of the crisis, grab the narrative, and be honest. A behind-the-scenes look at marketing mistakes, mishaps, and triumphs

Thursday, June 21, 2018

When a kashrus agency makes a mistake, says Rabbi Yehuda Rosenbaum, executive administrator of Kof-K Kosher Supervision, the first thing to do is gauge the halachic ramifications… When it comes to kashrus, there is no window for delay.

I t’s every corporate manager’s worst nightmare. An otherwise uneventful workday suddenly takes a sharp turn south — your company’s name starts trending on Twitter and shows up in the continuous chyron feed at the bottom of CNN’s screen, and your public relations staff starts fielding calls from around the world.

It’s every corporate manager’s worst nightmare. An otherwise uneventful workday suddenly takes a sharp turn south — your company’s name starts trending on Twitter and shows up in the continuous chyron feed at the bottom of CNN’s screen, and your public relations staff starts fielding calls from around the world.

It happened just a couple months ago, in April, to Starbucks executive chairman Howard Schultz. Two black men were arrested and escorted out of a Starbucks in Philadelphia after being refused access to the bathroom. The news instantly went viral and caused a media swarm. Starbucks was quick to apologize and plan a day of anti-bias education for their 175,000 employees, and on May 29, 8,000 facilities actually flipped their closed signs in order to undergo that training.

Whether the training will eradicate racial bias among Starbucks employees is yet to be seen, but it was certainly a significant public relations move. It cost Starbucks an estimated $12 million — hardly a dent in the company’s annual revenues, which total more than $22 billion.

“This is not an expense, [it’s] an investment in our people, in our way of life, in our culture and our values,” Howard Schultz told CBS that day.

Schultz’s statement, and the Starbucks corporate response to the Philadelphia incident, show strong company awareness of a basic dictum of modern business: A true public relations crisis can ruin a company in an instant, especially in today’s age, when footage of mishaps can travel worldwide at the speed of light.

Faux pas are bound to strike every company eventually — it’s just a matter of time, says Michoel Elias, marketing consultant at Managed Marketing NY, Inc. The challenge is in recovering as quickly and as effectively as possible. The best way to ensure a prompt turnaround, Elias says, is to maintain channels for open, real-time dialogue with customers. A company that fails to do that will be hampered, especially during damage control — when time is of the essence.

A typical mistake will only cause lasting damage to the brand when it adversely affects customers. If a product is mislabeled but no one uses it, damage to the company’s brand is minimal and customers should be forgiving. The key is transparency and getting out in front of the crisis. Different industries and organizations must find the tools most suitable for them, Michoel says, but active e-mail distribution lists, social network profiles, and website updates are considered basic needs. Without these, a company trying to get the word out about a product notice or update will not have a very far reach. Building these channels after a crisis hits is a case of too little, too late.

In April 2017, a passenger was forcibly removed from a United Airlines flight. The media exploded with footage and photos of a man with blood running down his face being bodily dragged down the aisle of a passenger cabin. United CEO Oscar Munoz took almost two days to issue an apology, instead choosing first to recite United company policy, and call the removed passenger “belligerent and disruptive.” Munoz’s statement was described as a “fumbling response” and a “public relations disaster” by Bloomberg News.

Missteps like these can destroy a company. United Airlines, in fact, lost nearly $1 billion in value following the incident, due largely to the leadership’s poor handling of the situation.

Southwest Airlines did better at crisis management after a jet engine exploded during a New York–Dallas flight. One passenger was fatally injured when she was sucked partway through a shattered window; others on board rushed to save her as the aircraft suddenly went into a nosedive, and heroic action by the pilot averted an even worse outcome. In the aftermath, Southwest CEO Gary C. Kelly went on the air right away to deliver a 40-second apology video, perhaps learning from United Airlines’ mistake. Southwest also sent a letter of apology, a $5,000 check, and a $1,000 travel voucher to each passenger on the flight. Kelly “followed protocol,” and covered all the bases of marketing management.

Director at Fresh Start Communications Kim Norton says the general rule of thumb for good public relations practices in the wake of a disaster is to be sympathetic when accidents happen, take responsibility for company errors, be transparent, and get the word out before others can twist it, Yitzchok Saftlas of Bottom Line Marketing likes to quote.

“No public relations crisis occurs in a vacuum,” Saftlas adds. “The best thing you can do for your business is to take immediate control of the narrative, be accessible, and always say the truth.”

Frum companies by nature operate on a smaller scale, and therefore, as the saying goes, they have smaller problems. But if you’re a business owner or executive, any crisis can wreak permanent damage on your reputation, parnassah, or organization — so you need to get in front of it as soon as you possibly can.